


Isn't that too easy.

by Mayaiai



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 18:17:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10366572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayaiai/pseuds/Mayaiai
Summary: A prompt on Tumblr.A moment of Max's life if her family had never moved away.Was supposed to be a drabble. I fic'd instead.





	

"A girl is missing from my school.” Max said, one afternoon looking up at the sky, watching the twinkling stars high above in the sky. “Her name is Rachel Amber. I’ve seen her around, had like, one conversation with her.”   
  
“Wow.” Chloe replied. “That’s rough. Do the police know anything?”   
  
Max shook her head. “No. People are saying that she’s run off to L.A. I hope that’s the case.”   
  
“Good for her. I tell you Max, once you graduate, we’re leaving this hell hole.” Chloe said, as Max entwined their fingers together, and listened to the sound of water hitting the rocks, down below the cliff, and the lighthouse shone light out over the sea.   
  
“Yeah,” Max murmured after a second. “But I do have to graduate first, and I do have school in the morning.”   
  
“Say no more, I, Chloe the Chauffeur, will take you back to your fancy school.” Chloe grinned, as the two slowly climbed up to their feet.     
  
Max looked out over the ocean, and then she looked out to where she could see the sparkling lights of Arcadia Bay, down by the beach. It looked so small from up at the lighthouse.    
  
Max knew Chloe hated this town. The town that took her father, and gave her a step-douche, but Max didn’t hate it like Chloe did. Arcadia Bay was her home.   
  
The months passed uneventfully, and the two still spent most of their time together. There was a Vortex Party, and Chloe had considered going, but ultimately she decided to help Max out with her everyday hero contest entry.    
  
The camera flashed and Max took the photo out of the camera that was standing on the tripod. She waited for the photo to develop before groaning and falling back on her bed. “It sucks!”    
  
“Let me see.” Chloe snatched the photo from Max, ignoring her half hearted protest, and looked at it from various angles. After a minute or two, she lowered the photo and looked at Max. “Got bad news for you Max. You need glasses. This photo is hella awesome!”   
  
Max gave half a chuckle. “Are you sure? I can just picture Mr. Jefferson laughing when I give it to him. It’s so lame.”   
  
Chloe put the photo down on Max’s desk, then grabbed Max’s hands and pulled her to her feet. “You need to chill, Max. Your photo is great. You are great. You are gonna hand that photo in, and win that competition, and fly to San Francisco and go to that fancy schmancy art gallery, and become a world famous photographer, alright Max?”   
  
Max couldn’t help the large grin as Chloe turned on Max’s music (and made a comment about her hippie tastes) and made Max sway along to the music.    
  
“Alright. If you say so.” Max finally said.   
  
“Of course I say so! Chloe knows all, right?”   
  
Even so, Max didn’t hand the photo in straight away. She waited, until, well, what for she didn’t know. Maybe she was waiting for a sign that her photo was good. Because, as much as she believed Chloe, her girlfriend was kind of biased.   
  
So Max sat in the class room, trying to muster up the courage to hand the photo in. Today. She’ll do it today, she thought as Victoria answered a question for Mr. Jefferson. She tried to push her nerves down, ignoring them, by paying more attention to the class. Mr. Jefferson was talking about something.   
  
“Seriously though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner, and capture you in a moment of desperation. And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious? What if Arbus chose to capture people at the height of their beauty or innocence?”   
  
She felt something wet on her face. Max rubbed her hand above her mouth, and was surprised when she saw blood on her fingers. She reached into her bag and pulled out a tissue, and wiped most of it away. Why was she having a nose bleed??   
  
"- It's great exposure and it can kickstart a career in photography. So Stella and Alyssa, get it together. Taylor, don't hide, I'm still waiting for your entry too. And yes Max, I see you pretending not to see me.”    
  
At the sound of her name, Max looked up. Right - the contest. She shoved the bloody tissue into her pocket, and stood up, grabbing all her belongings. Maybe she’ll submit it tomorrow - she should go to the bathroom and get herself cleaned up. Surely there was still blood on her face.   
  
Kate was still in her seat. Max paused, and decided to make her way over to Kate first. The other girl seemed to be very down. Kate barely looked up when Max walked over to her. Max offered her a smile, and Kate tried to give one back.   
  
“Hey Kate.”   
  
“Hi Max.”   
  
“You seem a bit quiet today,” Max said, and Kate offered a tiny shrug.   
  
“Just thinking too much...”   
  
Max nodded her head. Funny, that’s what she’s feeling like. “I hear that. Want to go grab a cup o' tea and bitch about life?“   
  
“Thanks, but not today. I have to go over homework.”   
  
“No worries. Let's hang later.”   
  
“Sure.” and with that, Kate stood up and left the classroom.   
  
Huh. In that entire conversation, Kate didn’t meet her eyes once. Was she ok? She’d check up with Kate later, when she goes back to her room. Maybe there was some family drama?   
  
Max felt the wetness on her face again, and a sharp pain, and she brushed away more blood. What was going on?   
  
She walked over to the classroom door, but just as she reached it, she heard Jefferson call her over. With a wince, she slowly turned around and walked over to where Mr. Jefferson and Victoria were talking. Victoria looked rather annoyed by this development.   
"Don't even think about leaving here until we talk about your entry. I'd never let one of photography's future stars avoid handing in her picture.”   
  
Max took in a deep breath. Right. Her photo. She can do this. Remember what Chloe said. You can do this Max. Chloe believes in you.    
  
“I have it here.” Max said, and she reached into her bag, and pulled out the white envelope that contained her photo. Her hands were only shaking slightly as she passed the envelope over.    
  
Mr. Jefferson gave her a proud smile. “Good on you Max. You know, John Lennon once said that "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.” and I’m glad you have a handle on it.”   
  
Suddenly, Mr. Jefferson frowned. “Max - you’re bleeding. Are you OK?”   
  
Max nodded her head, and wiped away more blood from her nose. “I just - I should go get cleaned up. Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.” and with that, Max left the classroom.    
  
Once outside, she popped her headphones in, and listened to the music on her phone, blocking out the noisy hallway and the other students. She passed the notice board and paused, leaning down to pick up a fallen piece of paper. It was a missing persons poster for Rachel Amber.   
  
They still hadn’t found her?   
  
It was actually the first missing poster she’s seen in ages for the girl. Maybe it was an old one? After leaving it on the floor, Max finished her walk to the bathroom. Once in there, she ran her hands under the tap, and washed away the blood smears from under her nose.   
  
“Please don’t bleed anymore, nose.” Max said, tilting her head.    
  
Her nose didn’t answer her.   
  
Max reached into her bag and pulled her phone out. She had a few texts on there, but she opened up Chloe’s texts. ‘Submitted my photo! Wish me luck :O’   
  
It was only a few seconds before her phone pinged. ‘Good luck!’ then ‘no emoji!’   
  
Max grinned as she pocketed her phone. Suddenly, a wave of panic and fear washed over her, like something bad was just seconds away from happening - and it was gone in an instant.   
  
What the hell?   
  
Max shook her head and splashed water over her face again, before leaving the bathroom. Where nothing bad happened at all.   
  
Max really wished she could say the same for the entire week. She had known something was wrong, and when she found out about the video, she tried even harder to talk to Kate, to be there for her, to be a good friend - but it wasn’t enough - it wasn’t enough.   
  
Max had been in the court yard when she saw Kate fall. She couldn’t get there in time - she was too late. (she’s ignoring the fact that it literally felt like time stood still while she tried to push through the crowd. that would be crazy)    
  
She couldn’t get there in time.   
  
That night she spent crying on Chloe’s chest. Crying for Kate, crying for Kates family, crying for her.   
  
In the end it was deemed that no one was at fault. That no one was to blame for Kates action.   
  
(Max had seen Mr. Madsen bully Kate. She had seen Mr. Jefferson ignore Kate. She had seen the bullying. She had seen the signs. Why couldn’t she have changed it? Why couldn’t she just - fix it?)   
  
And even after all that, even after it being their fault anyway, the Vortex club was still having their stupid party. In honour of Kate, they said. Yeah right. Any excuse to get drunk and party.   
  
Yet Max found herself going, dragging Chloe along with her. The only reason - and the only reason - was because the everyday hero contest winners were being announced. Max waited, in the crowd in front of the stage, with Chloe by her side, as Mr. Jefferson spoke through the microphone, building up to the announcement.   
  
Max... she wasn’t sure what to feel. Honestly, she felt nothing. If she won, if she lost - it didn’t really matter. How could it matter when her friend had killed herself, and no one - no one - seemed to care?   
  
“The winner of the Everyday Hero Contest is: Max Caulfield!”   
  
Max was aware of Chloe grabbing her and swinging her around, and then kissing her. There may have been a ‘i told you so’ in there, but Max wasn’t really paying much attention. It was all just her going through the motions, walking up to the stage, where she gave a speech that Chloe made her practice.   
  
She couldn’t even remember what she said. She said something, she knew that. People clapped for her, and afterwards, Mr. Jefferson asked to speak with her alone and she felt something sharp in her neck - and then she felt nothing - except - her nose was bleeding again.

 

  
  
Noises. Lights. Flashes. Voices. Her hands were tied together. Voices. Warped, whispered. Familiar.   
  
“How much did you give her?”   
  
She knew that voice, trusted that voice. Where was she? What was going on?   
  
Her head hurt.   
  
“-not going to be like Rachel again.”   
  
Loud, but quiet. Her head hurt so much.   
  
She groaned, and opened her eyes up. The lights were so bright. Why were they bright?   
  
“Chloe.” Max murmured.   
  
Chloe. Where’s Chloe. Chloe.   
  
A blurry dark shape appeared in her line of vision as she stared unfocused at it. There was another sharp sting in her neck, and everything went black again.   
  
“Max - oh god Max!”   
  
“Max!”   
  
“MAX!”   
  
Max jolted up, her heart hammering in her chest and she stared forward, her vision unfocused but her eyes wide and in a panic.   
  
“Max, sweetie, it’s ok, you’re safe now.”   
  
Max blinked several times, as she looked around the bright room. A hospital? Her mother and father? They were standing by her bed, her mother reaching out to reassure her.    
  
Max’s hands were shaking.   
  
“What - what’s going on?”    
  
“Lay down, sweetie. The doctors will want to know that you’re awake.”   
  
The next few hours were full of doctors, tests, and questions. All of which went unanswered. It wasn’t until Officer Berry turned up did Max finally get a chance to find out what happened.   
  
She wished she didn’t.   
  
She wished she didn’t find out that Jefferson had drugged and kidnapped her. That he took photos of her in this drugged state. That Chloe had noticed her missing straight away. That she had used her step fathers information to track down where Jefferson had gone.   
  
(Mr. Madsen had been investigating Rachel Ambers disappearance. He had figured that Jefferson was involved. Put a tracer on his vehicle.)   
  
That Chloe had called the police when she got there. That Chloe had taken one of her step fathers guns. That she had shot Jefferson in the leg, forcing him to the ground, and while she was untying Max, Jefferson had gotten his gun and -   
  
Max wished she didn’t know.   
  
She wished it didn’t happen.   
  
She wished she could fix it.   
  
She wished Chloe was alive.

  
  
_ “Seriously though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner, and capture you in a moment of desperation. And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy?” _


End file.
